How to Optimize Your Living Space for the New Normal
Due to the pandemic, many of us have seen our homes become our office space too. A large percentage of employees are seeing the benefits of this and are hoping to keep working from home at least part-time.
However, it’s important to think about how to optimize your space for this “new normal”. Previously, we would design our house with just our personal preferences in mind with no need to designate personal space as it all was!
Now, we are needing to effectively optimize our homes for both work and personal life in a way that means we can be highly effective during work time and still feel able to relax during non-workdays/hours.
No matter what type of living accommodation you have, there are many ways to optimize that space for the “new normal” of your house being both a home and an office.
Read on for our advice on how to do so.
Differentiate Work and Personal Space
One of the main problems with working from home is being able to have a good work-life balance and separate work time and space from personal time and space.
To help with separating these two elements of your life while doing both from home, try to have a separate space for working. This could be a whole home office, a desk within another space, or just a designated area of your home for working, such as the dining room.
If your workspace is in an area you also use for personal time, make sure you tidy up at the end of each day.
If you use your personal computer for work, try to use a separate user account for work and personal. If you cannot do that, close all work-related tabs at the end of the day, bookmarking those you need again. Also, make sure you log out of your work email and your company’s internal network as well as any other software you use.
Choosing the Best Place to Work at Home
Before you can optimize your space, you need to choose your designated work area. As mentioned, the ideal work-at-home situation is having an at-home office. However, this is not always possible in which case make sure the area you choose to work in is cleaned of work things when done working.
To decide where to work, look at each room and choose the best one for working given your living arrangements. For someone living alone in a one-bedroom apartment, the dining room/kitchen or lounge is a good option. However, for those with kids at home, those rooms may be the worst areas of the house to work in.
When deciding where to work, also choose a place with the least distractions, good lighting, and minimal to no clutter. Consider the following as well.
A Low Noise Area
You’ll need to choose an area with minimal noise distractions to work most efficiently. Therefore, choose a room that best blocks out noise from both inside your apartment and outside the apartment.
If you cannot block out distracting noises, try using noise-canceling headphones.
A Low Traffic Area
You’ll also want the workspace to be a low traffic area of your home with minimal distractions. You’ll also need to decide if you want to share a space with a partner, roommate, or family member that may be working at home or not.
If it’s difficult to find a low traffic area, consider a previously unused space for work such as setting up a desk in your hallway.
Access to Needed Resources
Lastly, your workspace will need to have access to all the resources you need. It needs to have a good internet connection and have access to as many outlets as you’ll need.
Additionally, finding an area with good lighting and near a window is optimal as discussed below.
How to Optimize Your Living Space for Working From Home
Once you’ve found the best place to work in your home, there are some ways to optimize that space even more. Try the following to make your work at home space more motivational.
Furnishings
A main part of optimizing your living space will be through the addition of office furniture. If you do have a home office then you can focus solely on getting the best furniture for your needs. If you are creating an office in a room you’ll use for personal time too, then you equally need to consider how your new office furniture will blend in.
Having furniture that takes up a lot of space or you don’t enjoy looking at in a “home” room can affect your mood during personal time and make you not want to relax in that space.
When deciding on office furniture you’ll want to start by getting a good desk and chair. Even if working at a table you already have, investing in an office chair for work time is a good choice. Find an ergonomic chair that’s comfortable and offers good support.
For a desk, look at getting a larger one if you like to spread work out or something more compact if you have a small space for your office. A desk with drawers is a great option and will help with tidying away and organization. Even with a small space, you can use a large floating shelf to create a desk on an empty wall.
Technology
You may also want to invest in some new technology. This could include a desktop computer instead of a laptop (or two if you’re used to using double screens and budget permits), a printer, or a headset if you make a lot of calls.
If you feel you need an item to do your job well, remember to ask your company first if they can provide furnishings or equipment!
Accessorize!
A great way to optimize your living space is through accessorizing. For an at-home office, decorate in a way that inspires you.
A great way to optimize your living space is through accessorizing. For an at-home office, decorate in a way that inspires you. You could add things like family pictures, plants, or artwork that motivates you. You can do the same if you have a desk in a room with another purpose.
Even if working at a dual-purpose place such as the dining table, think about how you might want to update the space to make it motivational during work and personal time.
A few room updates such as adding plants or interior decor items, or painting the space a different color (a quick weekend update) can make your space more appealing during both work and free time. Also consider using dividers, bookcases, or even rugs to separate a room into work and living areas.
Another update to consider is investing in additional amenities to make working at home more like the office. For example, buy a good coffee machine and your favorite coffee or nice teas.
Good Lighting
Having good lighting in your workspace is very important. It helps to reduce stress on your eyes from looking at a screen all day and can help in keeping you focused.
Try to work near windows and make sure you have good lighting inside. You may prefer dimmer lights at home but if you’re now working here full or part-time, invest in better lighting. This includes more lights and higher watt light bulbs.
To help transition between work and personal time, install a dimmer switch. You can then have bright lights while working and dimmer lights for when you aren’t.
A Specified Area for Video Calls
The “new normal” includes a lot of video calls. The optimal video call space will have good lighting and a clutter-free background.
The “new normal” includes a lot of video calls, mainly for work purposes but also for other things including doctors appointments and social purposes.
You therefore, want to have a space in your home that works well for video calls. This is most important for work calls but is important for other types of calls too.
The optimal video call space will have good lighting and a clutter-free background. You ideally want an area where you can sit in front of a wall with either nothing on it or something minimalist and organized such as basic artwork or a bookcase.
This area needs to be somewhere that isn’t too noisy either. If you have kids and/or a partner or roommate who may be making calls, watching TV, etc., make sure you have a space for calls that blocks out that noise.
If this is in a different location to where you work at home, again make sure there is a strong internet connection.
Easy Clean-Up and Organization
It may be more tempting to have a messy office at home as nobody will see it. But it’s best to try to keep organized. This helps a lot with productivity and efficiency.
This is extremely important if you work in a dual-purpose living and work area. Having your work things always on the dining table or a messy desk in your living room, for example, may make you enjoy your personal time in that space less.
To help store work materials during your off time, get binders and boxes for tidying everything away at the end of the workday. As mentioned, a desk with drawers is also perfect for end of day organizing.